By Carolyn Brown For the Valley Advocate Growing up in western Massachusetts, local musician and “artivist” Indë Francis, who performs mononymously as Indë, lacked role models who could help them understand their identities. Now, with their new album, they’re honoring elements of their life story and their path to becoming the Black queer role model they wished they’d had. Indë’s new album, “Role Model,” will be released with a launch concert at Bombyx Center for Arts Equity in Florence on Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. “There were no queer Black people in my community, and there were hardly any Black people,” they said. “It was just my dad, who himself is an immigrant, so I didn’t have anyone to learn about African American culture from. It was really isolating, and I had to go through a lot of cultural and identity strife to find myself.” In a high school English class, for example, Indë referred to a piece of text written in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as “grammatically incorrect,” to which their teacher replied that AAVE uses its own grammatical structure, distinct from that of standard English. In the following years, they turned to independent reading about Black American culture to catch up on what they’d missed from not having more firsthand community experiences. They resonated with the analogy of “windows and mirrors” — the idea that children’s literature should provide kids in the ‘windows and mirrors’ analogy—the idea that literature should provide children with both a view into other cultures and a reflection of their own. “With all of that, I had to do a lot of self-definition, self-discovery, self-education, in order to find myself,” they said. “And I think the message that I got at the end of that journey was that I have to be my own role model. I have to create the community that I don’t see, and I have to embody everything that I’m not seeing embodied.” Indë’s album spans a wide range of genres, including RB, rap, country, jazz, reggae, folk and electronic music. Though most of the songs are autobiographical, some are about conveying a message to the listener. In the song “DANTE (wish u were my homie),” the narrator pines after — and strikes up an illicit affair with — a man who has a girlfriend. “I’ve certainly lusted after unavailable people before, but the whole scenario is [the narrator’s] fantasy,” they said. “I’m not over here placing curses on people’s [partners] in real life! “But that one is really a message,” they continued. “It’s me critiquing people who are queer but are in heteronormative relationships because it’s easier instead of exploring the magical freedom of queer love. And then, two, it’s me saying to people who are listening who are like, ‘Oh, I relate to this. I miss my Dante,’ … ‘It’s not going to work out. Just pursue somebody who is available, not only in terms of the relationship that they’re in, but also in their queerness.’” The songs “snow white” and “COVERGIRL” are autobiographical, but they use the Snow White story as an allegory, which is a recurring theme in Indë’s work. Last summer, they hosted “Mirror, Mirror,” a multidisciplinary exhibit at A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, which was also about role models and Black queer identity. In fact, Indë said, they see this album as the soundtrack for that exhibit, which they’d like to present in Boston in the future. “I wish I could sing like I have green eyes and blush to match my smile,” Indë belts in the song “snow white.” “Oh, I wanna sing just as high as I please and not worry about my voice breaking,” they croon, dipping down into a low register, “but I’m blessed with this baritone / and no dress with hips sits right on my bones.” In “COVERGIRL,” which features an a cappella selection from the song “Whistle While You Work,” Indë takes on the role of the jealous Evil Queen: “I met a girl the other day / She seemed so supernatural / From her hair to the skin she sat in, and her dress was made of satin / I was woolly by comparison  … I’m not fair enough to be a star / But my tone and my skin make me smile / Your pearly whites can lie, but they won’t stop my shine.” As an undergrad in the college performance scene in Boston, “I was seeing how white girls who play guitar were being fawned over by both my peers and the industry, and I was feeling really envious of the attention and the praise,” they said. “I’m watching this beautiful girl get all this love that I am also deserving of, but that I’m not getting because I’m not white, because I’m not a pretty girl who plays guitar, because I’m not as marketable, not as conventional.” The album also features songs that are more celebratory and joyful, including “Come On Home,” which debuted at “Mirror, Mirror” last year with a music video. That song, Indë said, “really is for trans and genderqueer people who don’t have loving families and saying, ‘We are here. The people who love you and who will love you are here.’” When Indë wrote the song, they first came up with the chorus and bassline, and both “just felt country,” which inspired them to continue developing the rest of the song in that genre as well. It also felt timely, they said, because “We’re currently in a time when there’s a lot of Black artists who are embracing country music and highlighting our roots in the genre, as we have roots in pretty much every genre.” In the same vein, Indë wants to become for other people the queer Black role model they never had. “I think, to be a role model for anybody, you have to be a role model for yourself,” they said, adding that their concert will be a way to kickstart that process. “For people who love to sing along at concerts, this is for you,” they said. “For people who have never heard a pipe organ in person before, this is for you, and it will feel very much like a hug. It will be an emotional journey, but I will carry you through it.” “Role Model” will be available to stream exclusively on Bandcamp at artbyinde.bandcamp.com until June 15, when the final mastered version of the album will be available on all other platforms. Tickets to the Bombyx show are $35 in advance via bombyx.live or $40 at the door. ...read more read less